Aint nobody got time for blogging

Well, life is a bit different these days. Little Boog isn't quite walking yet, but he is most certainly mobile and he doesn't stay in one room anymore. This makes for a busier day life and not as much time to type out random thoughts or take pictures of myself in my new thrift store finds. However, I love every waking moment of it. Even the bad moments, because really, what would good moments be without bad moments to remind us of how good the good ones feel!

Over the last few weeks I've seen a lot of heartache. A few people in my life who have faced some extremely difficult things. It has me thinking. Life is full of ups and downs. Its full of broken dreams, beauty in the unexpected, disappointment, fulfilled promises, unfulfilled promises, tears, laughter, family, dysfunction, the good mixed in with the bad. I heard a pastor say once, "life isn't always divided by seasons. Good ones, bad ones, easy ones, hard ones. Sometimes, life is a mixture of the best and the worst all at once." You can be in the midst of the greatest success of your life, but your spouse has been diagnosed with cancer. That's what happened to this pastor. He had just written a best seller, his church was exploding and in the midst of it all, his wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer. How do you deal with that? How do you separate the emotions?

You don't.

If we don't learn how to take the bad in life, with the good, we will always battle with depression and unhappiness. We will never be able to enjoy the good, because we are too busy focusing on the bad. I do this. Too often. Far too often.

There will always be bad. There will always be things that make life hard. I think most people who read my blog know that challenges in life are what strengthens our character. We hear it in church, we've learned it in our own lives through experience, and yet, we still struggle with the hard stuff in life as though we are experiencing hard for the first time. Why do we do this? Part of me wonders if its because we have our idea of what life should look like, and we wont let it go.

My ideas of what marriage should look like ruined my first marriage. Have I mentioned that I've been married before? Its a long story. Actually its not, but its not what this post is about. My very specific idea of what marriage and a husband and "the married life" should be like, ruined my ability to deal with the hard stuff that comes with life...with marriage. I couldn't get my own ideas out of my head. So, I fell further and further into depression and it was all based on my disappointment. I may have had plenty of reasons to be disappointed in this marriage, but when we make choices in life, we don't get any guarantees that say that choice will forever be an easy path. Life happens. Crap happens. If we cant cope with the crap, we are in serious trouble. We will quit everything hoping the next decision will be the "right" one.

I say this as I sit in my beautiful home, with my healthy, happy one year old sleeping soundly in his bed, my husband whom I adore, although not at all perfect (sorry, baby) rubbing my feet while he watches football. Comfortable, happy, secure. Some might think I have no right to talk about these things, and maybe I don't. I recently spoke to a women who just finished her last session of chemo. I can only imagine what the last year has been like for her. A very close childhood friend of mine just lost her mom, who was only 56 years old. Surely, these were not things that they dreamt of years ago when dreaming of their futures.

In light of these things, I've never really, truly been tested. Not like that. But I know what its like to lose sight of my dreams. I know what its like to give up out of hopelessness. I also know what its like to see dreams come back to life. I know this, because I was finally able to let go and see what God had in mind.

I know that I still have plenty of lessons to learn when it comes to this, but tonight, my thoughts are on how far I've come from that 20 year old who had her whole life thought out just so, and how completely different everything turned out. But you know what, out of all of my dreams, the ones I came up with on my own, this life, the unexpected one I'm living today, is far better. If you had told me 10 years ago what I would have gone through to get here, or that I would be in my 30's before seeing some of my dreams come true, I wouldn't have liked it. But I can honestly say, sitting on this side of my twenty's, living out the dream God has given me, I shouldn't have held my dreams so tightly. It wouldn't have hurt so much when God took them away, only to give me something better.

Let go of whatever you think everything "should" look like and let God do something even more amazing. And trust. Trust that there is something better than what you have imagined. No matter what things look like today, this is not it. This is not the end of the story. Don't give up because there are bumps, disappointments, road blocks. There is so much ahead. Both good, and bad.

I hope, through the disappointment that I have experienced up to this point in life, that I have learned to fight. I hope that when, not if, but when I get hit in life, I don't go down with the first punch. And if I do - because who are we kidding, I will go down - that I get back up, knowing God is a God who fulfills His promises. Not my own idea of His promises, but HIS promises. The ones He had set for me from the beginning.


 This is what my life looks like right now.

 

This was worth waiting for. 

His first steps caught on camera!!!

...in case you cant tell by the look on my face.

 

I hope this week is a week of all good things, but if its not, I hope you find the strength to fight.

Fight for your joy.

We serve a God who has been bringing beauty through ashes since the beginning of time.

 

~Mimzi~

 

 

Do you want to hear a crazy story?

Over Labor Day weekend, the hubs and I decided to take a family trip to my hometown. I grew up in a small town an hour and a half north of where we live now, called Payson. This is where the redneck in me was nurtured to all of its walmart loving glory.

While we were there we wanted to visit my grandpa, who I decidedly don't see enough of. It was a rainy weekend, which I loved so much! The desert gives us a deep appreciation for cool water falling from the sky, huge rolling clouds that provide shade, and...well, most of us don't have a clue how to drive in it. But that's not the point of this post. The point of this post, is part of my family history that I've never known much about. I've heard bits and pieces over the years, but I never put much thought into it. The hubs however, found the whole thing fascinating, so he had it in his mind to ask lots of questions the moment we had my grandpas full attention.

My grandpa is one of those men who lived a full life, and because of it he has stories upon stories. Stories that are hard to believe, if it weren't for the many witnesses. Like the time he tried to land his airplane onto a moving vehicle...yeah. So when the hubs asked, my grandpa was more than willing to share this particular story, and so for the first time, I heard all about how my grandpa use to own one of the National Parks here in Arizona. Tonto Natural Bridge.

My mom was in her teens when my grandpa owned the land and hotel that is now a state park. She use to stay there during the summer and work the front desk. Her brothers would walk the trails early in the morning, before guests arrived, to make sure it was clear of snakes - Nothing like sending your own kids out to clear the danger for any paying customers. Nice, grandpa! =) I've seen pictures of my mom and her brothers and sister back when they stayed there with my grandpa. He owned it for 15 years, give or take, so it was a significant part of my moms childhood.

The crazy part about this story, is that you will not find any proof of my grandpa's ownership anywhere on any websites about the Tonto Natural Bridge. At least not that I've found. Through a series of events, the bridge was taken from him. From my whole family, really. This is something that I imagine would have been in our family forever. A place for family reunions, a place that would become a part of our history for generations.

Without going into the lengthy details of a government wanting land that belonged to another man, greed, lies, bought off judges and dirty attorneys, I will say that I never realized until this last weekend how much was taken from my grandpa. Sure, he has paperwork proving his ownership. He had, and still has records and tapes stating that he in fact owned this land and the hotel on it, but when you're "the little guy" and "the big man" has a lot more resources (aka, money), you don't have much of a choice...especially when you try to approach your land only to find men guarding the gate with shotguns and rifles.

I haven't been there since I was a kid, so we decided to stop in this last weekend, and can I tell you...this place is gorgeous! My mom was with us - gramps hasn't been since this whole thing went down - so she told us stories about how she learned to drive on the road that takes you down to the hotel. How they use to have big parties out there and spend all night playing pool in the glass room on top of the building. How they would swim in the river and direct guests to the safest path up and down the bridge.

It is so beautiful down there now. The state has kept it so clean, with picnic tables for lunch, trails and stairs to make it easier to get up and down the canyon to the bridge. I could have spent hours down there. Maybe next time. We will definitely be back, despite everything.

So there is my crazy story.

 

 

 

 

Aside from an artificial sweetener induced migraine (I'm swearing the stuff off for good!), it was a beautiful weekend! And since it took me so long to post this, it is already time for another weekend!!!

Happy Friday!

~Mimzi~

 

 



Yes, I did spray paint my earrings.

I bought these earrings a few years ago. They are by far my favorite pair, but they started to tarnish. I held onto them hoping someday I could have them fixed... or the hubs would surprise me with a real pair made to look like the ones I love so much. No, this is not a hint to my husband...yes it is.
I saw on Pinterest where someone spray painted clear gloss onto their cheap jewelry to keep it from tarnishing. I still haven't tried that, so I don't know if it works. However, it inspired me to spray paint my old earrings gold again! I bought some gold metallic paint, sprayed the little suckers, and....

The one on the right is what they looked like before their new paintjob.

I think they turned out pretty well! I did have to spray them with a gloss the next day, because the gold paint was rubbing off onto my fingers.

 

On a side note: I didn't want paint to come off inside my ear, so I held the part that goes into my ear with a plastic bag as I sprayed, keeping the paint from getting on that part of the earring.

 

Next post: my Labor Day Weekend

 

Here's to spray paint!!

I feel like spray paint is women's version of duct tape. It can fix ANYTHING!

 

Happy Tuesday!!

Thrifted outfit post - my new J.Crew dress

I typically don't purchase dresses like this. I love them so much...on other people. They just dont hang right on me. Thanks to my man shoulders, I feel that if I wear something that isn't at least a little form fitting, I look frumpy, or pregnant. Neither of which are good...unless I am in fact pregnant. Which I'm not (Kerri)!!

 

However, this dress was hanging on the rack at Savers and the stripes called out to me - as stripes typically do. I looked at the tag and it was a J.Crew. I thought "hey, maybe Mr. Crew can make me feel less frumpy in a dress like this".

 

Good work, J! I feel very mod in my new dress, and not the least bit pregnant. And it has pockets! A dress with pockets is almost as exciting as anything with stripes.

 

P.S. - Please excuse the wrinkles, I hadn't had it dry cleaned yet. I was too excited to share my latest thrift store find!

 

J-Crew dress: Savers $7
Cuff: Savers $3
Shoes: The Rack $never mind

 

 



If you are reading this, I think you should consider following my blog. My reasons for this request are completely self serving. I would like to get free stuff.
Honesty is the best policy, I always say.
Just click on the "Join this site" button, or "Follow by email", enter your info and voila! You now get notifications when I post something new! Almost as exciting as Christmas, right?

 

 

~Mimzi~

Spaghetti burrito. Seriously.

 

The hubs works kind of far from home, so we don't get to meet for lunch as often as I would like. However, today he was going to be on our side of town, so Boog and I met him in Scottsdale at this new restaurant called Pellini.

 

I have to start out by saying that the hubs and I are not foodies. We don't try new things. Ever. I eat turkey or peanut butter and jelly for lunch every. single. day. and have for the last 3 years. The hubs would be ok with cereal for dinner 5 nights a week and Pita Jungle the other two. Get the idea? A friend of the hubs is part owner of this little restaurant, so we decided to show some support and give it a try. Mind you, the owner has no idea I have a blog, so this is not a sponsored post. He didn't even know we were going to be there. That being said, it was amazing! I doubt he'll ever see this, so I'm not trying to get free food. Unless he does happen to see this, then he can leave a comment below with information on how I can get my free lunches for a year. Anyway, it was literally spaghetti and sausage in a tortilla. They call it a pellini. I've never heard of such a thing and was definitely not excited to try it, but it was SO good!

 

Its basically set up like Chipotle, only its Italian food. You choose your filling as you go down the line. I played it safe (shocker) and went with sausage, marinara sauce, spinach, artichoke hearts and mozzarella cheese. Mmm-mmm-good, people!! It was huge. And I ate the whole thing.

 

Click here for their website.

 



 

 

 This guy liked it.

 

~Mimzi~

My latest thrift store finds and a down side to thrifting

I don't consider myself to be a naïve person. I have my moments of course, but in general, I am not particularly naïve. Personally, I find naivety to be a good quality. Its a quality I respect. There is so much junk in this world, and if someone has chosen to shelter themselves from it to the point of being what the general population would consider naïve, kudos to you.

While I do not feel that I posses said quality, I, at times, can be ignorant. A few weeks ago I found a shirt at a thrift store that I thought would make a perfect pajama shirt. It fit just right. Not too big, not too little, it was soft, and it had hot pink writing, which I find myself drawn to as of late. I'm not one of those girls who has to look cute and put together for bed. I wish I was, but I'm not. If my shirt matches my bottoms...it was an accident. Poor hubs. Not quite what he imagined married life to be like. So, I saw this shirt and thought, "hey! maybe this would help me look semi cute for bed" and I bought it.

While on vacation, I decided to sport my cute new pajama top, since I would be in the company of more than just the hubs. On the back of this shirt, in hot pink block letters, was the word "Nympho". You see, the shirt is from H&M, so I assumed it was a European word, or something foreign and trendy.... I was pronouncing it wrong in my head. After my husband had a good laugh, at my expense, I Googled the word.
Nope, not a foreign word.
From now on, I will do better research before buying a shirt from a thrift store that has writing on it.

Luckily this whole experience did not deter me from thrifting. When we got back from vacation I needed to stop at Savers to get a few things for the upcoming wedding I've been planning. I found exactly what I was looking for. While I was there I decided to look around for myself...for three hours. Don't judge.
Here are some of my finds.

To copy this look from this adorable mommy blogger
http://www.stylinmommies.com/

Shirt: $4
Jeans: $5
The cut-offs were originally wide leg jeans. Snip, snip.

 



Crochet vest: $4



To copy this look. Although, I don't pretend I can pull things off like Siena Miller.
A girl can try.

 

 

Tank: $3

 

Gap vest: $6

 

Baby boots: $5

 

Kenneth Cole shorts for B: $1.50 (each)
Tank: $0.75

 

Hammer pants: $1.50
Baby beanie: $0.75
Snuggles from the cutest boy in the whole world: Priceless

 

This was probably my favorite find! Homemade ice cream, people!!

The old wood ice cream makers work better than the plastic ones they sell now. 

Bonus: they look cool!

Wedding knick knacks: $15 (total)

There's a glimpse at my thrift store haul from Saturday!
There were a few more items, but they get their own post  =)

Happy Tuesday and boo to naughty shirts!

~Mimzi~

 

Another vacation = more pictures = more laundry.

I'm tired. The kind of tired where your eyes burn and you cant focus anymore because your eyelids keep trying to shut. It was all worth it, but please excuse any typos.

Our family vaca was a success. We made it back without any major sunburns, although not without some pretty stellar farmer tans. I also picked up a little surfer lingo, such as stellar.

As much fun as all of these vacations have been, I am ready to be home. It felt so good to walk in our door Friday afternoon, unload all of our crap onto the middle of the living room floor, eat some take out, put B to bed, then vedge on the couch while the hubs watched a few preseason football games and I scrolled through Pinterest. Hello life. I've missed you.

And now, for some pics! I didn't take as many as I thought I would. I have to remind myself that, while documenting moments are important, being in the moment is also important. Sometimes I worry Brody is going to think a cell phone is part of the human anatomy.
He's going to be 25, remembering those special moments from his childhood, and in every memory is going be my pink floral cell phone, as though it were an extra limb, like a third hand...or something. For this reason I will try and keep a balance between documenting moments, and just being in the moment.

 



 

San Diego Zoo!

 



Somebody learned how to point this week!

Its funny how being a new mom means little things like pointing are cause for celebration.

 



 

I'm going to say the giraffes were B's favorite.

I'm going to say that because they are my favorite, and B cant talk, so he cant argue.

 

 

My beautiful mom...and a very serious child.

The crew





 

There is so much handsome in this picture, I can hardly stand it ^ ^ ^

 

The hubs and his biggest fan.

This little mop follows him everywhere! If only she knew that he wasn't the one who wanted her in the first place. IT WAS ME! I'm the one you should love!!!

I digress.

 

 

He's so little-big now.

We are officially two months away from his 1 year birthday....

Please excuse me while I bawl my eyes out.

 

Next post: My latest thrift store finds! It was one of those days where I knew right away it was going to be a good haul. And it was.

 

Happy Monday!!

 

~Mimzi~